Texas university bans suicide awareness charity drag show claiming it ‘degrades women’
LGBTQ+ advocates and allies have dedicatedly fought back against the rising attacks against drag in the US. (Getty)
A university in Texas has banned a charity drag show for suicide awareness, comparing drag to “blackface”, and claiming it degrades women.
West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) president Walter Wendler reportedly cancelled the show, in aid of LGBTQ+ charity The Trevor Project, in an email, claiming the art form is “derisive, divisive and demoralising misogyny”.
University LGBTQ+ group Spectrum were due to hold the show on campus, which they claim they had been “actively working on for several months”, when Wendler sent the email, later published to his blog.
The university’s president claimed that while the Trevor Project is a good cause, drag is devoid of dignity. He urged students to skip the event and just donate to the charity.
“I believe every human being is created in the image of God, and therefore, a person of dignity,” Wendler wrote.
“Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not. As a performance exaggerating aspects of womanhood… drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood.”
Wendler’s comments were widely criticised, with the students urging the university to reconsider its position and launched a petition, which has garnered thousands of signatures.
“Not only is this a gross and abhorrent comparison of two completely different topics, but it is also an extremely distorted and incorrect definition of drag as a culture and form of performance art,” students wrote in the petition.
They added that Wendler was in violation of the university’s policy by taking action against a student organisation “on the basis of a political, religious, philosophical, ideological, or academic viewpoint expressed”.
The petition went on to say: “We, the students of WTAMU, hope to bring this issue to Dr Wendler’s attention and urge him to reinstate the drag show on campus. We are holding this drag show whether we have his support or not, but his extreme lack of compassion for the LGBT+ and activist student population on campus shows with this latest e-mail.”
According to CNN, the students then filed a federal lawsuit against Wendler, claiming their First Amendment rights to free speech are being violated.
“This morning, Spectrum filed a federal lawsuit against president Wendler to protect the First Amendment rights of students at WTAMU,” the group said in a statement.
“President Wendler can skip the show if he doesn’t want to see it, but he doesn’t get to decide how people express themselves. Drag shows are constitutionally protected free expression, and president Wendler is a public official who must follow the law.”
The students added that Wendler has a right to criticise the show, but, as a public official, does not have the authority to cancel it, or interfere with the students’ free speech.
Students reportedly held the drag fundraiser at a Texas venue off campus on 31 March.
The story comes as states around America have passed a slew of legislation attacking drag and the LGBTQ+ community more widely, with Tennessee becoming the first state to restrict public drag performances last month.
PinkNews has contacted West Texas A&M for comment.
